Piston skirt expander



Oct 25, 1932. R. R. TEETOR PISTON SKIRT EXPANDE'R Filed June 9. 1952 Z; a hi? 2 7 l M, ,M%W &

Patented 25, 1932 cited in the a UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE RALPH a. 'raa'roa, or naeans'rowx, mmaran ssmnon To run ranrnc'r cracms couramr, or moaasrown, nmniu, a conroaarzon. or INDIIANA PISTON SKID-'1' manna My invention relates to pistons adapted for use in internal combustion engines and the like and more particularly to means forexpandin a split piston skirt in order to eliminate piston slapping, excessive oil consumption and blow-b and other defects.

It is a well-reco tons, and particu arly those having split skirts formed of metal, such as aluminum, wear rather rapidly withattendant pistonslap, excessive oil leakage past the piston ring and greatly diminishedv power. principal obl'ect of my invention is to rovide a nove piston skirt expander w ich eliminates these faults. To this end I have provided an expander which is simple in structure, eliicacious in use, and readily adapted for use with various :t pes of pistons without the necessity of per orming any special operations on the pistons. 1

With the above and incidental objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of parts, the essential elements whereof are repended claims and the preferred form 0 embodiment .0 which is described in detail hereinafter and illustrated in full in the accompan ing drawing, which form part of this speci cation.

Of said drawing Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view of a piston having my thereto;

gig. 2 is a side view of the expander alone; an

- Fig. 3 is a side view of thepiston partially broken away to show part of the expander in position within the piston.

Referring to Figs. 1 and "3, I have shown, for illustrative purposes only, a piston havin a head 5 and a skirt 6 which is provided wit a vertical slot 7 in one side. Parallel webs 8 depend from the head and these webs cal-112' piston pin homes 9 carrying a'piston pm Except where the webs are joined to the head the head is separated from the upper edge f the skirt by circumferential slots 10. The

vertical slot 7 extends from the approximate center of one of these slots 10 to the ower edge of the skirt. 1

ized fact that some pis- The improved expander applied- My expanding device 12 is preferably formed from a strip of spring steel and it is bent into its rectangular shape with the free ends 13 curved and contacting at 17. After the expander is placed in the piston, theypiston pin 14 is inserted into the openings 15 in thesides of the expander. The rear end of the expander contacts at the bends 16 with the interior wallof the piston opposite the slot 7. The free curved ends 13 contact with the interior wall of the piston at either side of the slot 7 With the expander in this position the bends 16 of Y the expander and the free ends 13 of the expander press firmly in opposite directions against the skirt and at the same time the sides of the expander, which become bowed, press firml against the facing edges of the piston pin sses with the result that the expander expands the skirt and maintains it in expanded condition so that it snugly fits the cylinder walls, thus avoiding piston slap and excessive blow-by and oilconsumption. The slots 15 are slightly elongated to accommodate any movement of the expander during its 0 ration. v

I preferab y slot, as at 18, the free curved ends 13 of the expander to give these ends additional resiliency and to assure that they press more uniformly against the piston wall. also preferably, though, not necessarily, strike out sharp lips 19 at the upper and lower edges of these curved ends 13 and also at the upper and lower edges of the bends 16 so that these lips ma bite into the metal of the piston skirt and tter anchor the expander in position.

It .is now evident that my invention is admirably adapted to perform the functions first stated. The expander is extremely simple, highly eflic'ent, susceptible of use with various types of istons now on the market, and readily applied to a piston without the necessity of performing special operations on thepiston' or using special tools.

I claimz' 1. In combination skirt with a vertical slot, of a diametrica y extending ex ander formed of sprin metal and having ree ends contacting eac with a piston havingla other and engagin the interior of the piston on either side 0 the slot and adjacent thereto.

2. In combination with a piston having a.

- skirt with a slot and a piston pin, of a skirt expander carried by the piston pin and engaging the skirt on each side of said slot.

'4. In combination with a piston having a skirt, a piston pin and piston pin bosses, of a skirt expander formed of spring metal and disposed between the facing edges of the bosses and extending acrossthe skirt, the expander having holes through which said p1ston pin extends.

5. In combination with a piston having a skirt with a slot, piston pin bosses and a piston pin carried by said bosses, of a skirt expander through which the piston pin projects and which engages the facing edges of the bosses and against the skirt on each side of said slot.

6. In combination with a piston having a skirt with a slot, piston pin bosses and a' piston pin carried by said bosses, of a skirt expander having apertures through which the piston pin projects and which presses against the bosses and against the skirt on each. sideof said .slot and also against the skirt opposite said slot.

7. In combination with a piston having a slotted skirt,of an expander havin spring inwardly curved ends contacting w1th each other and engaging the piston skirt to ex pand the piston.

8. In combination with a piston having a skirt with a slot, of an expander formed of a single piece of flatspring metal, the expander being generall polygonal in shape and having curved en s in contact with the piston skirt on either side of said slot and adjacent thereto. I

9. In combination with a piston with a skirt having a slot, piston pin bosses and a piston pin, of an expander formed of a single piece of fiat spring metal, the expander being generally polygonal in shape and having curved ends in Contact with each ether and engaging thepiston skirt on either side of and adjacent to said slot, the sides of the expander having holes through which'the piston pin extends and said sides'i ressing against the ends of said bosses.

10. The combination of a piston having a I slotted skirt, of an expander formed of spring metal haying curved ends contacting with-each other and engaging the piston skirt to expand the piston, and sharp points on said expander biting into the metal of said piston.

11. In combination with a piston having a slotted skirt and a piston pin, of a spring expander extending across the interior of in shape and having normally contacting reversely curved ends.

13. A piston skirt expander formed. of flat spring metal and having reversely curved ends, the same ends being slotted transversely.

14:. A spring expander generally polygonal in shape and having normally contacting ends and provided with means whereby the same may be attachedto the interior of the skirt of the piston.

15. In combination with a piston having a slotted skirt and piston pin bosses, of a spring expander forming a closed figure generally oblong in shape andexpansible lengthwise at right angles to the axis of said bosses and crosswise in the direction of the axis of the bosses and contacting at spaced points with the skirt intermediate the bosses and with the bosses, the expander having expansible curved formations to afiord the desired expansibility.

16. A spring metal expander for apiston skirt having bosses, the expander being generally oblong in shape and having two fiat parallel sides adapted to contact with the piston pin bosses, curved expansible formations at one end adapted to engage with the interior of one side of the skirt intermediate the bosses and formations adapted to engage the interior of the other side of the skirt intermediate the bosses.

' In testimony whereof, I have subscribed my name.

RALPH it. TEETOR. 

